Hollywood's Best and Worst Depictions of Silicon Valley

HBO's Silicon Valley isn't the first time we've seen the industry on screen.

Reality is not what Silicon Valley is known for. So when Bravo launched the reality show Start-Ups: Silicon Valley in 2012, it was dismissed by those in the Valley as being a poor representation of startup culture. Perhaps a fictional show will fare better; Mike Judge's new HBO sitcom Silicon Valley that's set to premiere this Sunday is already being called the real deal.

The show follows Palo Alto housemates and their startup Goolybib. From the venture capital being thrown their way and the over-the-top launch party to their social awkwardness, Silicon Valley insiders (and those who cover them) are saying the show gets it right. Part of that lies in Judge being a former test engineer at a startup called Parallax Systems. The rest is in his attention to detail.

"It was sort of like looking at a version of your life through a strange lens," Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk told the Wall Street Journal after the screening of the show. "Like a distorted lens that's not really true, but nonetheless causes you to reflect on that life and consider what is true."

Bringing Silicon Valley to the screen has always been complicated, but it hasn't always been compelling. Last year's Jobs managed to take one of the most well-known Silicon Valley success story and turn it into a virtually unwatchable movie. Hopefully Aaron Sorkin will have more luck with the Jobs story, as he did with origins of Facebook in The Social Network. But he's certainly not the first screenwriter or filmmaker to tackle tech; check out the slideshow for other big cinematic hits and misses.